


Special

by PitViperOfDoom



Category: Big Hero 6 (2014)
Genre: HotBarista!Tadashi, M/M, Warning: Nerds Flirting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-01
Updated: 2015-05-01
Packaged: 2018-03-26 16:49:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,155
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3857905
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PitViperOfDoom/pseuds/PitViperOfDoom
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Fred first meets Tadashi at the Lucky Cat Cafe and Tadashi is a super, super handsome barista." (From Tumblr, requested by anonymous)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Special

There was no particular reason why Fred had never walked into this cafe before. San Fransokyo was full of places like these, and he had simply never gotten around to it. Until now.

Breathing warm air into his hands, he stepped inside the Lucky Cat Cafe and sighed with relief when he felt heated air wash over him. He had misjudged the weather, and his jacket was too thin – anyone who thought that California was nothing but hot beach weather had obviously never set foot near the California coastline in the winter.

The place seemed like your average coffeeshop-cafe, with a bakery display and a host of coffeemakers behind the register counter. An older woman was making rounds around the tables, leaving two baristas to man the counter. Fred mentally shrugged – might as well get something hot to drink, as long as he was here. There was no line as he strolled up to the counter. One barista, a tall blonde dressed in pink under her apron, was making a drink while the other stood behind the register and–

Whoa.

_Whoa_ .

Fred had written enough essays about _Romeo and Juliet_ to squash any belief he had ever had in love at first sight, but the barista behind the register was making a damn good case for aesthetic attraction. He was tall, dark-haired, with brown eyes and a smile like a sunrise and Fred momentarily forgot how to use his mouth to make words. The guy's sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, and for the life of him Fred couldn't decide what part of him to stare at because _whoa_.

“Hey, can I get you anything?” Even his  _voice_ was nice.

_Oh God what do I say what do I say, should I flirt? No, don't flirt, you've never met him before and he's totally working right now, don't be that guy Fred_. Without thinking, he blurted out,  “So, uh, what's the special today?”

For a moment the barista blinked owlishly, before slowly turning and glancing over his shoulder at the medium-sized blackboard behind him, upon which was written, in perfectly large and readable letters, “Today's Special: Peppermint Mocha.” Helpfully, the barista read it aloud for him while Fred silently died on the inside.

“Cool, I'll have that,” Fred said faintly, and hoped that the spreading redness on his face could be chalked up to the cold air from outside. “Uh, medium,” he added.

“Alrighty then, coming right up.” The barista scribbled on a medium-sized cup with a sharpie. “Can I get your name?”

This was his chance, one last chance to be witty and charming and make up for the slip-up with the question. He would say something smooth, something snappy and funny, make the barista laugh and maybe forget that he'd made an ass of himself upon opening his mouth.

What came out was “I'm Wolverine.”

To the barista's credit, he didn't miss a beat. He simply scribbled something on the cup too quickly to see, and took the five-dollar bill when Fred helplessly held it out.

“Just... just keep it,” he sighed when he saw the guy go for change.

About four minutes later he heard “I have your order, Logan,” in a familiar voice, and looked up to see the hot barista making eye contact with him. Not knowing whether to laugh or blush harder, Fred stood up to take his drink. His finger brushed the barista's when he handed it to him, and Fred saw the name “Logan” scribbled on the side, along with a drawing of three parallel claw marks. The barista quirked a grin at him before returning to the cash register. Fred stared after him, momentarily dumbstruck.

_Holy crap, I think I'm in love_ .

He returned the next day, brimming with a good night's sleep's worth of new confidence, to find (to his delight) the barista from the previous day still manning the register. He strolled up to the counter with his hands in his pocket, and when he saw recognition dawn in those lovely brown eyes he grinned cheekily and asked “So what's the special today?” He considered adding, “I mean besides you,” but decided not to press his luck. Finally he had the presence of mind to look at the nametag – _Tadashi_.

Tadashi didn't laugh, but he almost did and he clearly kind of wanted to and in a lot of ways that was even better. The corners of his eyes crinkled and he grinned like he was holding it back and Fred felt his heart melt.

The special, as the blackboard proclaimed, was something called a Cinnamon Roll Latte and it tasted exactly as it sounded. Frankly Tadashi could have smashed a banana with a hammer and handed it to him, and his mind would have been made up anyway. He had found his new favorite place.

* * *

It went on that way until the end of the first week of January. “So what's the...” Fred's voice trailed off, and he tilted his head to look over Tadashi's shoulder at the blackboard behind him. For the first time, it was blank. “Wow.  _Is_ there a special today?”

Tadashi raised an eyebrow at him. “For you, maybe.”

Fred tried to ignore the little shiver that ran through him, and failed. “Uh, what is it?”

“You sure you want to know?”

There was a playful challenge in his voice that had Fred rising to meet it without thinking. “Hey, man, surprise me.”

The lopsided grin on Tadashi's face almost made him lose his nerve and take it back, but he kept his mouth shut as the barista shrugged. “If you insist. That'll be four-seventeen.”

Fred paid before slinking back to the nearest table. He didn't sit down – too nervous to sit still. Instead he leaned back against it and watched Tadashi scribble on another cup and trade positions with his coworker to make the drink.

His heart was pounding out of his chest by the time Tadashi came up to the pickup corner with the covered cup in a cardboard sleeve, signaling him with a slight quirk of his eyebrows that made Fred want to swoon. Almost hesitantly he came forward to take it, and was at least eighty-five percent sure that Tadashi brushed his hand on purpose when handing it off to him. He took a careful sip, and found himself drinking a peppermint mocha.  _Christmas season is over_ , he thought, raising the cup to inspect the outside. He almost dropped it.

Peaking out from beneath the cardboard sleeve was a phone number. Fumbling slightly, he slid the sleeve down and found a note just underneath. “ _I'm off work at 5._ ”

Eyes round, he looked up at the barista busying himself behind the counter again. Tadashi glanced up, noticed him staring, and honest-to-God  _winked_ at him.

Fred beamed back, lifted the mocha in a toast to him, and texted Heathcliff to say he'd be out late.

 


End file.
